Breaking the Ice Queen
by Gorgonzola
Summary: When Sara turns Grissom down, he is determined to get her back any way he can. FINAL CHAPTER NOW ADDED! Thanks for your patience!
1. Default Chapter

Breaking the Ice Queen  
  
Grissom left the office perturbed. He was furious that he had let Sara get to him like this. He had asked her to go for dinner when the shift was over but she had refused saying "sorry, I've made other plans". Sometimes he wondered what he saw in her at all, after all she was high maintenance and moody at the best of times.

But then again, she was also one of the best in the business and Grissom had realised this potential when she was his student many years before.

They had enveloped on a wild, torrid affair at that time lasting several months. It was exciting and dangerous, yet all the while Grissom knew it was inherently wrong. Sara was many years his junior and he couldn't help but think that maybe it was the thrill of being with her lecturer that had seduced her into his bed on that first night of term.

When Sara started working for Grissom, he thought that maybe there was a chance that they would pick up where they left off, but it never happened. Sara was intelligent, beautiful, stubborn and above all professional, so there was no chance of anything happening while he was her boss. However, as the months went on Grissom knew that she was starting to soften a bit, and on more than one occasion he had felt her looking at him for a little longer than is considered normal. It was as if she was trying to read his thoughts and see if they were on the same wavelength.

It was Grissom's nature to avoid such advances and to delve into his work. People and emotions perplexed Grissom and he had made a decision a short time after the affair with Sara had ended, that the romantic chapter of his life was well and truly over.

There was something about her though that stopped him from fully sticking to this thought. She got under his skin in a way that no other woman ever had. She intrigued and perplexed him all at the same time. She gave away little enough to be elusive and just enough to keep him interested.

So to be rejected tonight after finally plucking up the courage to ask her to see him outside of office hours, where something could finally happen, was too much for Grissom to bear. He realised as he left the office that she was in fact completely nonchalant about the whole thing. Whether she saw him or not didn't bother her, and much to Grissom's surprise that angered him.

He had thought himself devoid of feelings, but in fact he now had a wave of feelings crashing through his body, anger, jealousy, resentment, pain and above all desire. He wanted her like he had never wanted another woman before. And if he had anything to do with it, he would have her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Grissom made his way out to the carpark, as he approached the black Tahoe he spotted Sara chatting to Catherine Willows.  
  
He wondered if that was what she had meant when she said she had plans for the night, was it a girl's night out with Catherine?  
  
He considered Catherine a very good friend, both in and out of work; she was his equal in a lot of ways.  
  
He decided to ring her and get her to work on a piece of evidence pertaining to the latest case. This way, Sara's plans would be cancelled. He opened his cell and pressed 1, this was Catherine's number on speed dial. Making sure that the women wouldn't see or hear him, Gil went around the back of the Tahoe to make the call.  
  
She answered the phone on the second ring.  
  
"Catherine Willows," she said.  
  
"Cath, its Grissom. Are you at home?" he asked.  
  
"No, me and Sara were about to go grab some food and see if we can get to the bottom of this case. Why, do you need me to come back in?"  
  
"I wouldn't want to interrupt your plans, but I think that we may need to go back over some of today's findings. There is something we are missing that is staring us in the face. I wouldn't ask only you know that there is only a certain window of time that we have to work with", Gil proceeded.  
  
"Sure thing Gil, me and Sara are just in the carpark, we will head back in and get started."  
  
"No", Gil almost shouted. "Em, I mean I want you and Warrick to work on the evidence. I need Sara and Nick to be here early if we are going to go to the perp's house in the morning, so they should get some rest", he lied convincingly.  
  
"K, well Sara is with me here now, I will tell her to head home and I will get started. Is Warrick still inside?"  
  
"I don't know that for sure Catherine, but I will ring him and inform him what is going on. Keep me posted," and with that he hung up.  
  
"Warrick Brown"  
  
"Warrick, its Gil. Were you sleeping?" "No, I was just catching up on some telly, why do you need me?" Warrick asked.  
  
"I have asked Catherine to go through today's evidence again; I think there is something that we are missing that is right there in front of us. I want you to go through it with her Warrick, can you make it back in?"  
  
"Yeah sure, I'll be there in five", and with that Warrick hung up.  
  
Gil tried to think what his next step was.  
  
"What excuse can I come up with to see Sara at this hour of night" he thought to himself.  
  
It had been easy to break her plans with Catherine, but he knew Sara well enough to know that her next plan would be to go home and catch a few hours sleep before returning to work the following day. How could he justify going over there?  
  
He returned to his office and grabbed the evidence report that they were all working on. It had been a harrowing case involving a five year old being raped and strangled, and they had all been doing their best to find the sick person behind the crime. He knew that Sara was anxious to find the perp just as much as the others and because of this she would probably be reading through her notes at home, trying to see what vital piece of evidence they had missed. Gil decided that he would head over to her house with his report and they could talk through the evidence together.  
  
He decided that it was only polite to ring her other than arriving unannounced on her doorstep. He opened his cell and pressed 2, this was Sara's number.  
  
"Sara Sidle" she said.  
  
"Sara, Gil. Were you sleeping?" he asked.  
  
"No, I was just having coffee and I was about to read through some of my notes", she said.  
  
Grissom smiled, her predictability was one of the things he liked the most about her. A person always knew where they were with Sara; she was always the cool, collected professional.  
  
"Would you mind if I dropped by? Two heads and all that", he continued tentatively.  
  
"Sure, why not?" she said.  
  
"I'll be right there", Grissom said and as an afterthought added "looking forward to it", and hung up.  
  
"Damn", he thought to himself, "how can I make it look like I am going over to advance the case not my personal life?" He would have to play it cool.  
  
As he drove along he could feel the excitement in the pit of his stomach, he lowered the window and felt the breeze on his face. For the first time in so long, he felt alive. He only hoped that she would return his feelings. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Looking forward to it" Sara repeated to herself. "When has Gil ever said he was looking forward to anything?"

She knew he had been behaving differently recently, she had seen a much softer side to him and she had to admit she liked it.

But she had told herself on so many occasions that nothing would ever or could ever happen between them again, she would have to be standoffish and cool with him when he arrived or he was liable to get the wrong idea.

Sara had never let anything get in the way of her work, particularly things like sex and she wasn't about to start now, not when they were so close to cracking the case that they had worked so damn hard on. Gil had often told her to take more personal time, he worried for her that she didn't have a life outside of work, but Sara didn't see it like that, her job was her life and her life was her job and that is how she wanted it. In that way she was quite like Gil; he didn't leave himself open to emotions and to the prospect of getting hurt, and neither did she. But she had been hurt, more than any of the other CSI's would ever know.

She went upstairs to wash her face and strolled into the bedroom where she put on soft music and sprayed perfume on her neck and wrists. She wasn't even aware she was doing it, her mind was somewhere else entirely. She started to plump the pillows on her bed up whilst thinking of pinning Grissom down on the satin sheets and having her wicked way with him.

"Stop it" she said to herself a little too harshly. She looked in the mirror, ran a brush over her hair and realised she was still in the clothes that she had worked in that day. She also needed a shower.

She checked her watch wondering if she had time to wash and change before Grissom made it over.

She picked up her cell and rang him.

"Gil Grissom"

"Gil, it's Sara, I haven't eaten today and I was wondering if you would stop by and get take out before you come over".

"Sure, you want your usual?" he asked.

He remembered that Sara's favourite take out was chicken satay and chow mein noodles. After they had made love she used to eat the remainder of the noodles cold straight from the fridge. He smiled at the memory.

"Em, no I fancy something different tonight, why don't you surprise me", Sara said.

"Maybe I will Sara, maybe I will", Gil responded thoughtfully.

"I'm gonna grab a shower, so I will leave the front door open. Let yourself in." she said.

Sara hung up, and headed for the shower. She stripped off and found herself humming. She felt more relaxed and happier than she had in a long time.

She tried to focus on the job in hand, finding the bastard that violated little Megan Richardson.

The image of her mutilated body came into Sara's mind and quickly brought her back to reality.

As she emerged from the shower feeling refreshed she remembered all her clean towels were downstairs.

"Dammit" she said to herself.

When she walked out of the bathroom, naked and wet, her nipples hardened with the blast of cool air. She looked over the banister to make sure that no-one was in the living room and proceeded down the stairs. Her towels were in the dryer in her kitchen, and as she walked towards the dryer Gil strolled in with the take out.

Sara's back was turned to him as he walked in, he let his eyes explore her perfect body, and felt himself stiffen as she wrapped the towel around herself.

"Gil" she said as she turned around. "How long have you been standing there?"

Not wanting to embarrass her or admit that he was looking, he said simply "Just now".

"Let me go get some clothes on, you know where the plates are" she said as the colour crept into her cheeks.

"Sure, I brought beer as well, do you want some", he asked trying desperately to push the image of her nakedness out of his mind.

"No, I want to keep a clear head", she said.

"For the case?" he added.

"Em, something like that", she replied, now very aware of her nakedness.

She pushed past him and made her way to her bedroom. "Oh my God," she thought to herself, "how long was he there? Did he see me naked? Did he enjoy it?" She smiled at the thought. "Focus on the job in hand" she berated herself.

She pulled on her navy jeans and her tight blue sweater that over-accentuated her high well defined breasts, sprayed more perfume on her, and proceeded downstairs.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Gil sat on the couch waiting for her to come back downstairs, he had to try everything in his power not to go up there and rip that towel off her. "God she looked amazing" he thought to himself. It had been five years since he had seen her naked and if anything she had improved with age. He tried to focus on his kung po chicken but food was the last thing on his mind.

"What is taking her so long?" he thought. "Is she waiting for me to make the first move? Am I supposed to go to her?"

As if she had read his mind, Sara emerged from her room and walked downstairs.

"I'm starving" she said as she got the smell of the food.

"So what surprise do you have for me Gil?"

"Em, Sara, I don't know what you mean, we are here to talk about the case, I think we should concentrate on that really, don't you?" he replied nervously.

"Wow, Gil relax, I was talking about the food, I asked you to get me something different. Jeez, why so jumpy?"

"Just tired I guess, hope Thai green curry is ok?"

"Yeah, it's great"

"Damn, what the Hell is wrong with me? If I react this badly over everything she says and does tonight, I will scare her off before I get the chance to tell her how I really feel", he thought to himself.

"What the Hell is up with him tonight? He is acting so weird; I wonder did he get some kind of vibe from me? Dammit Sara, keep it professional", she told herself.

"So where are we in regards to the case Sara? Did you make any developments today?

"Well, Nick and I checked out the scene again and came across some material in a nearby bush. I got Greg to look at it, and he says that the fibres in it match the dress that Megan was wearing that day. There was a partial print on it that he was tracing for me, but it turned out to be her mothers. So that leaves us straight back at square one again. There is no sign of DNA or blood or anything else that we can use to nail this bastard. This obviously isn't his first kill, this guy is good, he has retraced his steps well. It is going to be tough to find out who he is and where he is hiding out."

"Tough, but not impossible" Gil added, "this guy isn't as clever as he thinks he is, the fact that he left the body in the middle of the desert tells us that there has to be a vehicle involved. All we need to do is find where he dumped it."

"Warrick and Brass were working on it when we finished up, I don't know how they got on".

"I sent Warrick back in to go through the evidence with Catherine, we have to be sure there is nothing we missed. If this gets to Culpepper I want to be sure that we have covered all bases".

"So we aren't the only ones pulling an all nighter then?" Sara said. "Catherine won't be happy that she won't get to see Lyndsay before tomorrow's shift starts. This case is hitting her hard; you know how she gets when the vic is a child".

"I know, I have been keeping an eye on her, but she needs to learn to be more objective, she can't always let her emotions get in the way. If it isn't children that upset her it is prostitutes, lap dancers or call girls. In Vegas that doesn't leave a lot of people!"

Sara had never heard Gil talk about any of the CSI's, it surprised her as she knew how much respect Gil had for Catherine.

"What's going on Gil? It isn't like you to question our objectivity."

"I have to question my team's objectivity Sara; it is the only way I can ensure that the job is done right. Warrick can't be around gamblers or deal with a crime scene in a casino, Nick has issues with child abusers, paedophiles and their victims, Catherine worries about the entire sex industry, it is just getting a bit ridiculous.

I need my team to be completely removed from the situations that they are dealing with; they knew what the work entailed when they got involved. I can't always be there to bail them out when their emotions get the better of them."

Sara sat in silence as Gil continued to pick holes in his team. She had never in all the years of knowing him heard him speak so frankly about other people. She didn't realise that any of the team's flaws even registered with him let alone affected him.

"And what about me Gil? What's my thing? What about me annoys you?" she asked tentatively.

"You Sara?" he said as he looked into her eyes "nothing."

"No tell me, I can handle it you know. There are things about you that I don't like either, it is okay. Besides, if you tell me then I can improve on it, I can't change it if I don't know what it is."

Sara felt her heart beat louder in her chest; his answer could have more of an effect on her than he knew.

Gil took a long drink, his mouth felt like the desert that he was so accustomed to working in, and his palms were beginning to sweat. He looked at Sara's face; he noticed every line that was now on her intensely worried face. In that moment, he realised he didn't just want her, he needed her. She made his heart beat with an intensity that he had never felt before, she made him smile and laugh out loud, she made him think and constantly question and rethink his ideas, in short, she made him feel alive.

"Gil, tell me", she urged. "It can't be that bad". Her eyes were starting to sparkle and he knew she was getting annoyed.

"I already told you Sara"

"You told me nothing Gil"

"Exactly Sara, nothing" he answered in his calm, collective tone.

"That is hardly an answer Gil, stop being so vague and avoiding the topic, Jesus, you had no problem pulling the others apart, what is it you aren't man enough to tell me cos I am sitting in front of you. I couldn't imagine you talking behind the others' backs when they aren't here to defend themselves. I never put you down as a coward", she fumed.

"Sara, firstly, I am not pulling anyone apart, I am merely telling you the weaknesses of the other CSI's which you and I already know of. I am not betraying any confidences and I am not telling you anything that you aren't already aware of. Secondly, I have always been open and honest with my team, I have already talked to all of them about the weaknesses that will hold them back and jeopardise their work. Thirdly, I already answered you twice, you asked me what annoyed me about you and I said nothing. Nothing is the answer Sara. I am not avoiding the question, I answered the goddamn question. The answer is there in nothing that annoys me about you, there is nothing you do that I would change in any way, there is nothing you do to jeopardise your work or the work of the team around you. You are focused in every way, you are always the utmost professional, and you are one of the best in the business. Nothing about you annoys me, how could anything about you annoy me, when I, when I" he stumbled.

"When you what Gil?" she said more gently this time

When I love you so goddamn much", he finished in an almost inaudible whisper.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I, I don't know what to say Gil", Sara stuttered.

"You don't have to say anything Sara", Gil said, and with that he got up and left the house.

"Where are you going?" Sara said chasing after him. "You are going to drop that bombshell then leave? Really?"

"This isn't how it was supposed to be", Gil explained, "I wasn't supposed to tell you, you were never supposed to know, this isn't how…. I can't do this Sara", he finished and got into his car.

Sara stood and watched him backing out of her driveway, her head felt light from the impact of Gil's news, and her heart felt heavy that they hadn't been given the opportunity to talk about it properly. "But what would I have said anyway?" she thought to herself as she went back into her house.

In all the year's she had known Gil, she had never heard him express feelings of love for anything, not even the insects that fascinate him so much. In fact on more than one occasion Sara had thought that Gil was so devoid of feelings that perhaps he was incapable of loving.

She was ashamed at herself for having thought that way about him.

"How could I be so wrong? How could I be so stupid and blind?" she pondered. "And now I have totally blown it, my one chance to be with him and I acted in my usual cold, hard ass way, no wonder he left, good going Sara," she said aloud. "I'm talking to myself now as well, great!" she continued huffily.

She knew who would be able to make sense of this situation; she picked up her cell and dialed the number.

Nick Stokes was watching a basketball game which he had recorded earlier that day; it was his favourite team the Chicago Bulls v the Milwaukee Bucks. He had been eagerly awaiting the game all day, but when he actually sat down to watch it, he had gone off the idea completely. The problem was that he couldn't seem to get the image of little Megan's bruised and beaten body out of his mind.

Recently he was finding it increasingly difficult to switch off after work. More and more of his personal experiences were affecting his professionalism. He was continuously losing his objectivity, the one thing that a CSI needs to get through the harrowing images that they are faced with on a daily basis.

Nick was no longer basing his reports on cold facts and hard evidence; he was making assumptions about the suspects based on his own suspicions. Gil had pulled him up on it telling him to "stick to the facts presented to us and the actual evidence, don't fill in between the lines. It is through that level of bad judgement and sloppiness that innocent people are convicted of crimes they haven't committed." Gil had even gone as far to say that Nick's "reports of late had read like an editorial in a school paper and if Nick wanted to write fabricated propaganda that he should have been a journalist not a level III Crime Scene Investigator.

Nick had thought that Gil has been unusually harsh with him, but lately Gil had been irascible with all the team. He obviously had other things on his mind and didn't need the added stress of a CSI not doing his job properly.

He made a decision then and there to focus on the job in hand and to stop letting his personal life cloud his judgement. As with all things it had been easier said than done. Yes he had definitely brought his work back up to scratch and he had once again presented reports based solely on the facts, but work wasn't when the problem arose.

It was easy to work, to bury his head in the sand and to ignore the niggling thoughts and images at the back of his mind. The problem arose when the shift was over, when he had clocked out for the day and he was sitting alone in his apartment, desperately trying to unwind and find sleep so that he could start the process over the following day.

For he was never truly alone, when he had his demons to keep him company, and nothing else except the background noise of the television to block out their persistent whispering and jeering.

He switched off the game, "maybe a beer will do the trick", he thought crossing the room to the fridge. "No point going over the same shit again Nicky, you'll drive yourself mad", he said to himself.

Although he felt on some level he was already mad. "You have to be a little crazy to get a kick out of the work we do", Warrick had once said. Nick remembered thinking there was a lot of logic to that sentence.

He sipped absently at his beer and was just about to turn some music on when his phone rang.

"Come on Gil, even we deserve a little R&R time", he said in his Southern drawl.

"Stokes"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Did I wake you?"

"No I was just catching the game and having a beer, I find it helps me to drift off." Nick said and then as an afterthought as though to explain his drinking he added "It's been a tough case you know?"

"Yeah we are all feeling it Nicky, you aren't the only one having trouble sleeping".

"Sara, are you ok? It's just I am sure that you didn't ring me to talk about our insomnia. Is it the case? Did you think of something we may have missed?"

Sara wasn't sure where to start, "what do I say now?" she thought to herself. Ringing Nick had seemed like the natural thing to do, he was close enough to Gil to make some sense of the situation, while still remaining objective about the whole thing. Now that she had him on the phone the words seemed to stick in her throat, she wasn't sure how to proceed.

"You still there Sara?" Nick asked gently.

He knew this case had effected them all in different ways, but he had expected Sara to deal with it better than the others had. She was always the epitome of calm and appeared almost emotionless even with the most hideous crimes that they had to deal with.

He had been surprised to hear her voice on the other end of the phone. He was well used to getting calls at obscure hours from Gil or Catherine if she was in charge of a case, but Sara rarely called him after hours.

In fact, Nick had often resented her ability to stay so disconnected from the work and how she could just switch off once the shift was over. It was a quality that neither Warrick, Catherine nor himself possessed. It was also one of the reasons that Gil held her in higher esteem than the others.

"Yeah I am still here Nicky", she said in an uncharacteristically meek voice.

"Whatever it is Sara, you can tell me", he proceeded cautiously. He was starting to feel a nervous sensation creeping into the pit of his stomach.

"Em, forget it, I shouldn't have called you so late, I guess I just wanted to hear a friendly voice you know?" she said now on the verge of tears. "Why can I never just say how I feel?" she thought sadly to herself.

"Yeah, it has been hard coming home to an empty house knowing that monster is still on the loose, that's for sure", Nick said not convinced that was the truth behind this strange phonecall at 2am.

"I guess I'll go and try get some sleep, I'm just tired. Sorry for ringing so late and all", she finished.

"Look Sara, if you want me to come by I can crash on your couch, that is if it would help", Nick continued, that nervous feeling continuing to grow in his stomach as the conversation progressed.

He knew there was something very wrong for Sara to ring him so late, Nick got the impression that she was scared and didn't want to admit it.

"Really, you don't have to do that Nicky" Sara continued brushing a stray tear from her cheek. She was also aware that her voice had begun to shake.

The truth was that the last thing she wanted was to spend another night on her own in her empty house, but her independence was stopping her from asking for Nick's company.

"I'll be fine", she said regaining her composure slightly. "Do you think I need some jock to be my bodyguard?" she added in her sarcastic way.

Nick grinned, that was more like the Sara he knew. Feeling a little better about the whole thing, he decided to leave well enough alone. He knew how independent Sara was and the last thing he wanted was to push her away from him. It was evident that it had taken a lot for her to call him, and it was a reassurance to Nick to know that she could confide in him if ever she needed anything. "After all no man is an Island", he mused.

"Well, if you are sure Sara. Ok a compromise, how bout I stop by in the morning before our shift starts, we can grab breakfast and maybe just talk?"

Sara nodded the tears now openly flowing down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and in her bravest voice said "on one condition Nicky, you're buying", and quietly added "thanks Nick" and hung up the phone.

Nick sat there for a while listening to the tone, its repetitive note becoming almost hypnotic. He wondered if he should go with his instinct and go over there? She was very obviously not okay, and maybe the late phonecall had been Sara's way of asking for his help.

He was wary of interfering especially when it came to Sara, and he didn't want to force her to open up to him. "Maybe it would be best to keep my word and just see her in the morning", he thought.

He replaced the receiver in its cradle and looked at the clock on the wall, 3.15am. He had to be back in work in less than 6 hours and if he wanted to stop by at Sara's as well, that would mean being up, showered and ready to go at about 7.45. He groaned silently, "time to get some sleep buddy", he said to himself and went into the bathroom to clean his teeth.

He had barely turned on the tap when his cell rang for the second time that night. That foreboding feeling hit him again, "I knew I should have gone over there", he thought. He replaced his toothbrush in its holder, went back into the living room and picked up his phone from the coffee table. Without even looking at the number he answered the call.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Sara?"

As soon as Gil heard her name he knew this had been a bad idea. Had Sara had the same idea as him? Had she rang Nick for advice? "How the Hell am I going to explain this one?" he thought nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

Gil cleared his throat. "Is there a reason why you think I am Sara Nick?" he said in his most professional voice.

Nick flushed scarlet; Gil was obviously going to think it strange that Nick was awaiting a phone call from Sara so late at night. How would he explain it without betraying Sara in her moment of weakness, or causing alarm about her well being? He would have to think on his feet.

"Must have read the caller id wrong", Nick lied unconvincingly, "what can I do for you boss?"

"Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb", Gil thought to himself. "Interestingly enough I wanted to talk to you about Sara. Have you been in contact with her tonight?"

"Shit", thought Nick. "Should I lie? What if something happened to her since she was talking to me, and Gil had somehow found out that Nick was the last person she was talking to?" "Ok I am being stupid and paranoid now, I have definitely been working this case too long", he muttered.

"Did you say something Nick?" Gil probed.

"Em, yeah she rang me earlier, to see if I wanted to do breakfast in the morning before our shift begins." It was for the most part the truth, as that was all that Nick had managed to decipher of the conversation himself, the rest had been Sara's personal pain wrapped in paper of deceit and bows of lies.

"Why do you ask boss?" Nick continued apprehensively, frightened now of the answer he might receive.

"Did she mention anything more specific to you than breakfast Nick?" Gil probed. He was having trouble resisting the need to ask Nick straight out what he knew about tonight's proceedings, but he knew he had to remain in control of the situation. If Sara didn't say anything to Nick about it, then Gil didn't want to arouse his suspicions on the subject.

"No, we just chatted about this and that, nothing specific, is everything ok Gil?" Nick asked apprehensively.

"I don't know Nick, I am worried about Sara, she seemed distracted earlier on at work, and I think this case is hitting her harder than she is letting on. You didn't get the impression that she had anything else on her mind? Maybe one of us indirectly did something to her, and we have upset her in some way, anything like that?" Gil continued. "This is like getting blood out of a stone" Gil thought to himself.

"I am not sure Gil, I thought there was something else that she wanted to tell me, but you know Sara, she is fiercely stubborn and independent. Whatever is getting to her, she isn't going to tell any of us, she wants to deal with it in her way".

Satisfied that Nick didn't know anything about what had happened, Gil thanked him and hung up.

"There is something very wrong here tonight; and I am going to find out what it is", Nick decided.

"Oh God, I am going to have to go back over there and face her, this can't go on any longer, or none of us will get any sleep before tomorrow's shift", Gil thought.

With that, Nick and Gil made their ways to their Tahoes and headed to Sara's.

Sara had been unable to sleep since she got off the phone with Nick; she was no closer to knowing what she was going to say to Gil tomorrow, or even how she was going to explain her apparent tears on the phone to Nick.

She had known as soon as she started talking to Nick that it had been a bad idea calling him, she had originally thought that he would make things clearer and help her to sort out the mass of indefinable thoughts swirling round her head, but in reality, when it came down to it, she felt that telling Nick would be a betrayal of Gil's feelings. Sara felt that Nick wouldn't quite understand where Gil had been coming from with the sudden outburst; Sara herself didn't fully understand it, so how could she expect others to? Plus it would change the dynamic at work, it would mean Nick looking at and treating Gil differently and Sara didn't want that. Gil prided himself on his work, his capability as a team leader, his never ending professionalism and his ability to separate his work and his personal life. If Sara had confided in Nick, that would have changed for Gil and Sara didn't have it in her to jeopardize Gil's stalwart work ethics, or how the team viewed him.

Once the decision was made not to tell Nick, she had felt incredibly alone, and that upset her deeply. The fact that she couldn't explain this to Nick made her more upset; she felt that she was going around in a vicious circle. She knew that she had worried Nick, and that wasn't fair either, she should have just dealt with the situation on her own.

It was at times like this when she wished she would take heed of Gil's advice to have a life outside of work; then maybe she would have friends to discuss stuff like this with, instead of always having to take the professional viewpoint on everything and ultimately deal with everything alone.

Not that Sara was ever a slumber party with her girlfriends type of person, but on occasion it would be nice to have someone other than Warrick, Nick, Catherine, Greg, Gil and Brass to keep her company.

This is why she avoided relationships, they were just messy and they usually needed the assistance of a best friend, something that Sara had never had, never wanted and didn't believe she ever needed.

Now with the prospect of a relationship with Gil, she didn't know who she would be able to talk to about it, to discuss his idiosyncrasies that only she notices and loves, his mannerisms that may appear annoying to others but to her they are extensions of him and therefore perfect. Who would she have to give her advice if they have a silly row? Or who would she take shopping for his Christmas pressie?

"I don't think I can do this, I am happy on my own", she thought. "I am fully capable of surviving without a relationship; I have got this far without one, why would I change that now?" "Besides, what if it all went pear shaped? I would probably have to get a job with another department, would I be able to handle watching him with someone else?" Sara thought as she continued to weigh up the pros and cons in her head.

Truthfully, she knew there wouldn't be anyone else, she knew that Gil had always had strong feelings for her, but it wasn't until tonight that he had ever admitted them so frankly. She knew that it had taken a lot for him to do that, and she couldn't imagine him going through that again with her or anyone else. She would have to handle this very carefully.

Sara looked at her clock, 3.35 am, she was in work in less that 5 hours, there was no way she would sleep now, not with all these thoughts going around in her head. She decided to get a cup of coffee and look over the case notes again, maybe they had missed something obvious after all, something which could help them nail the person that committed this heinous crime.

As she was entering the kitchen, there was a knock at the door. "Thank God, he came back, he must want to talk things through", Sara thought excitedly. "Please God, don't make me fuck this up", she prayed silently. Prayer the desperate person's last hope.

On opening the door she called out, "Gil, I am really glad you came back, we need to talk about this." She opened the door and found Nick Stokes looking very confused.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Nick, what are you doing here?" Sara said rather sharply.

"I came over to see if you were ok, what is going on with you Sara? You ring me in tears, then Gil rings me to know if you are ok, I come over here and you think I am Gil, no wonder I am confused," he explained agitatedly.

"Look Nick this has nothing to do with you, I am sorry that you wasted your journey over here, but really I am fine and I need to get some sleep before tomorrow's shift, so can you just go please", she replied.

She was embarrassed that he had heard her outburst and other than dealing with it she just wanted him to go away. It was Sara's normal response to anyone who came to close, bark at them and hope to God they will back off. But something about Nick said that he was standing his ground on this one. He could be just as obstinate as Sara, it was one of the characteristics that she usually admired in her, but tonight it was just making her angry.

"Do you really think I am going to just let this thing go Sara?" Nick continued with determination. "I know you are a private person and all but you contacted me tonight, and that makes me involved, and you know once I am involved in something I see it through to the end."

"I am not one of your cases Nick, don't try to get some profile on me so you can work out what the problem is. Why don't you remember that you are better at working with the dead not the living, maybe you should stick to that?" she retorted heatedly.

Sara felt almost bad for attacking Nick like this, she had gone to him for help and now that he was here offering her the help she needed, she was pulling away.

Just as she was about to tell him again to leave, she saw a set of headlights pulling into the driveway. "Oh Christ, please don't make that be Gil, how would we explain that one?" she thought desperately. But Nick had evidently seen the approaching car too and turned to see who the driver was.

"Is that Gil's Tahoe?" Nick asked narrowing his eyes from the strength of the oncoming vehicle.

"What am I a psychic?" Sara snapped.

"Well, isn't that interesting, see when I arrived here you were hoping I was Gil, and now here he is, you may not be psychic but maybe you are telepathic?" Nick said sarcastically.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck" Sara thought to herself. "What the hell am I going to do now? Will Gil get the wrong impression if he sees Nick here at this hour of the night? Will he think there is something going on between us and that is why I didn't tell him I love him too? Jesus, could this night get any more fucked up?"

"Well you obviously aren't prepared to leave so you might as well go and take a seat in the living room" Sara said to Nick.

She thought that at least if she gets Nickoff the doorstep that she might get a chance to go and tell Gil heis here before he arrives in and starts shooting his mouth off. That was the last thing she needed.

"I can't figure you out for one second Sara", Nick said in his Southern drawl and made his way into the living room.

Sara breathed a sigh of relief and decided to take the opportunity to tell Gil that Nick was here. She rushed out to Grissom's Tahoe.

Sara opened the passenger door and got in saying "Gil you have to know that Nick is only here cos he was worried about me, there is nothing going on".

She turned to see why Gil wasn't responding and saw that the seat was empty.

"What the……….?" She said aloud.

"Gil?" she asked quietly.

"Where did he go? He was just here a second ago, maybe he got out or something", she thought confusedly. She turned to get out of the car when she heard a click and the automatic locking system locked down all the doors.

From behind her seat a hand appeared and covered her mouth to stop her from screaming.

"Hello Sara" said an instantly recognizable voice. The hair on the nape of Sara's neck immediately stood on end.

"Now if you promise to co-operate I will remove my hand. You have to promise not to scream, we wouldn't want tolet Nicky knw there is anything wrong out here now would we?"

Sara shook her head from side to side in the signal for no.

"Good girl," he said removing his hand.

"What have you done to Gil?" she hissed venomously.

"He has gone for a nap, with all the running around after you that he does, no wonder he was tired", he said while stroking Sara's hair.

"If you have hurt him I swear to God I will kill you David", she continued in a low threatening voice.

David Phillips the CSI Lab technician had worked with the team for a number of years, and had always seemed like an ordinary enough guy. It was known that he had a crush on Sara, a fact which had always been laughed off until now. However, now that she was sitting here not knowing where Gil was and if he was okay or not, she started to take Dave's attraction to her very seriously, she began to fear for her safety. Sara was starting to think they could have been very wrong about just how ordinary and easy gong this guy really is.

"Turn around Sara, look at me", he said in an uncharacteristically confidant tone.

Sara decided now would not be the time for her trademark sarcasm, so she decided to comply with his request.

"Best not to piss off the crazy guy", she thought to herself.

She turned slowly and saw Gil slumped against the window, she looked to his chest to see if he was breathing. His chest was rising and falling, confirming that he was indeed just unconscious. She quickly scanned him for any visible injuries, evidence of blood or apparent broken bones. Thankfully he seemed to be okay.

As if David had read her mind he said "Jesus Sara lighten up, your precious Gil is fine, don't look so worried" and with that he lithely hopped into the drivers seat beside her.

"What do you want David?" Sara asked impatiently.

"You", he said and with that he turned the key and reversed out of the driveway.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Nick watched the Tahoe backing out of the driveway and cursed under his breath. This was without a doubt one of the strangest nights he had ever experienced and that was saying a lot given his line of work.

He rushed out the door and shouted after Sara "that's very grown up Sara" and returned into the house.

"What would make Sara drive off with Gil?" he thought to himself while putting on his jacket.

There was something going on here and he was determined to find out what it was. He got into his car and chased after Gil's Tahoe. They had a considerable head-start but as it was the only other car on the road, it was easy enough to catch up.

"Jesus Sara, why the Hell are you driving so fast?" Nick said out loud as he put his foot on the accelerator.

He was starting to get a very nervous feeling in the pit of stomach, he knew that things weren't right and he was starting to get increasingly worried about the pace that Sara was driving at. He knew that Sara was an exceptionally careful driver, and this behaviour was completely erratic for her.

"What has gotten into you tonight Sara?" Nick said to himself.

He tapped in her number into her cell phone but it just rang out.

"Dammit" Nick cursed slapping his hand against the steering wheel.

He tried Gil's number next, again to no avail. He was fast running out of options.

"I need a second opinion", he thought to himself. He checked the clock on the dashboard, and hoped to God Warrick would still be awake.

"Come on pick up, pick up", Nick repeated over and over but eventually just got Warrick's voicemail.

"Hey man, it's Nick, if you get this could you ring me straightaway, there is something up with Sara. I am following her in her Tahoe along Vegas Drive; she has just gone on to West Lake Mead Boulevard. She is acting very strangely. I could do with your help on this one man. Oh and by the way there is no point in ringing Grissom, he is with her and acting just as mad as she is. Just ring me ok?" he finished as he pressed the end call button.

Nick continued to drive after Sara not really knowing where she was going to and why she wanted to get there so desperately.

He knew he couldn't call Catherine, although her expertise would be great right around now, he couldn't justify waking her and her daughter Lindsay at this time of the morning. He couldn't believe that he had to work in a few hours; he was going to be frazzled by tomorrow night. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of job where it was possible to call in sick, if one of them wasn't there, evidence went unprocessed and it was one day more before they could catch the perps. They couldn't afford to let this guy walk not after what he had done to little Meghan, time was as always of the essence on such a delicate case.

As unimpressed as he was with Sara's stunt, he couldn't help but think there was more to this than just her wanting to talk to Grissom on his own. It was for that reason that he didn't just turn the truck around and go back to his big very welcoming double bed. He knew in his heart and his gut that there was something seriously askew here.

Just as they approached Martin Luther King Blvd, Nick's phone rang.

Without even looking he pressed the answer button and said "Sara, is that you? What the fuck are you playing at?"

"Whoa Nick, it's me Warrick. What's going on man, you sound strung out?" Warrick asked in his characteristically laid back manner.

"Warrick man, good to hear a sane voice. I don't even know where to start", Nick said wearily.

"Well why don't you start from the beginning, I am up now anyway", Warrick said with a soft laugh, although something told him he didn't have a whole lot to laugh about. He had never heard Nick utter a word stronger than "dammit" and was shocked when he had heard Nick's anger on answering the phone.

So Nick filled him in as much as he could. Listening to his own voice Nick thought he sounded crazy, outside of Sara driving too fast into the night, there was no real cause for alarm. Maybe he should just turn around and go get some sleep, but something just kept stopping him from turning the steering wheel.

"Where are you now Nick?" Warrick asked all traces of humour now gone from his voice.

"I am just about on North Las Vegas Blvd; I can't think where she might be heading to".

"Hard to know", Warrick mused. "She doesn't seem to be thinking straight, it's impossible to say what is going through her head right now. Keep behind her and I will catch you up. Keep me posted on where you are headed to ok?"

"K man, I'll try my best but I don't know how much longer the gas will hold out", Nick said.

"Well the Tahoe's get filled together so by that reckoning she should run out of gas around the same time, at least if that happens you will be able to ask her what the Hell all this is about", Warrick said and hung up.

Nick looked at his gas gauge it was just below the half way point. He stretched his back and rubbed his neck with one hand, the combination of driving and lack of sleep had left him stiff.

"You'll be driving for a while yet Nicky, might as well get comfy", he said to himself while switching on the radio. He hoped the sound of music would keep him awake for long enough to get to the bottom of this high speed chase with his feisty brunette colleague.

He continued along North Pecos Road, right on to East Carey Avenue, past Von Tobel Park and Tate School Park.

"Where the Hell is she going?" he thought.

He took a left on to North Lamb Blvd, right on to East Cheyenne Avenue.

"How much farther is she going to go?" Nick thought.

Just then the car in front stopped as they arrived at the Sunrise Vista Golf Club. Nick checked his gas gauge.

"Not quite empty, we must have arrived at last", he thought and pulled in a little way down the street so as not to be seen.

He rang Warrick and told him where he was.

"Stay there I am on my way", he said.

Nick turned the radio off and the headlights and watched as the door of Grissom's car opened. He expected to see the slender frame of Sara getting out the driver's side but instead saw a man getting out and lighting up a cigarette.

"What the…..?" Nick thought. "If Sara isn't driving and Grissom doesn't smoke, who the Hell was that?"

At that moment Warrick came around the corner and pulled in behind Nick.

He rang Nick moments later "Nick, who is that guy next to Gil's car?" he asked tentatively.

"Your guess is as good as mine man", Nick replied. "Make your way to my car, bring your gun and whatever you don't let him see you", Nick said cautiously. "This just got serious".


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sara saw David get out of the car and she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't felt this panicked and helpless in a long time, she didn't know what to do or how to get herself out of this mess.

She took the opportunity to check on Gil. He was bleeding from his temple, but it seemed to be shallow enough, although he was still unconscious. It had been a long time, so Sara undid her seat belt and climbed into the back to see if he was still breathing.

As she climbed into the backseat she caught sight of another car parked in the distance. It was quite a distance behind them and it had been parked under a tree so it was out of view, but she was sure that it looked like one of the CSI Tahoes.

She tried to get a better view when she was pulled roughly back by the leg.

"What the Hell are you doing?" David shouted at her.

"I was just checking if Gil was ok," she said more defiantly than she had expected.

"I told you your boyfriend is fine, and I don't remember giving you permission to move from the front seat", he said vehemently.

"I don't remember asking for permission", she replied scathingly, looking him square in the eyes.

David slapped her full force across the face with the back of his hand splitting her lip in the process.

"Jesus Sara, why do you continue to make everything so damn hard for yourself?" he said almost to himself in a quite psychotic whisper.

He stroked her face lovingly and wiped the blood from her lip saying "do you think I like this? Do you think I wanted our first date to be like this? I hate hurting you Sara, but you are just so damn obstinate, and you need to be shown who is in control."

Sara tried her best to fight back the tears that were burning her eyes. She couldn't believe that he had hit her, she hadn't seen that coming, and it frightened her that she had lost control of the situation.

"Are you going to be good from here on in Sara?" David asked her still stroking her face in an almost paternal way.

She nodded fervently.

"I hate that this bastard thinks he has control over me, but I better not piss off the psycho" she thought to herself forlornly.

"David," she began tentatively. "What are you going to do with me?"

"Well I have a few ideas up my sleeve, but firstly I will have to get rid of the competition", he said with a maniacal grin on his face.

He put her seat belt back on and said to her "don't get any ideas about moving" and then got out of the car.

Sara could feel the panic rising from the pit of her stomach, she had no idea what he was capable of, and didn't know what his next plan was. It didn't take long for her to find out.

She heard the back door opening and Gil falling out of the car on to the road. She tried to look behind her but she couldn't see with the seat belt, and decided that the best idea would be to stay where David told her and not to remove the belt a second time.

She prayed that David would leave Gil at the side of the road and return to the Tahoe without harming him further. That way when he eventually came to he would be able to get help. She pulled down the window and tried to crane her neck out to see what was going on. She saw David standing over Gil kicking him repeatedly in the ribs. Sara's panic turned to fury, and decided that she didn't care what happened she couldn't leave Gil be beaten up. As she undid her seat belt and opened the door she heard the gunshot.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo", Sara screamed.

David's head snapped around to see Sara getting out of the car. He grabbed her and pushed her into the car.

"I thought I told you to stay where you were", he shouted at her. "Can you not understand plain fucking English?" he roared.

"Why did you have to kill him?" she shouted back.

Her emotions had been brimming to the surface all evening, and when she saw Gil being shot, she knew she could no longer control them.

"You sick bastard", she screamed hysterically. "You didn't have to do that, you could have left him on the road, you have me, you have what you want, so why, why". She stopped mid sentence no longer to continue as the reality that she would never see Gil again hit her full force. She started to sob uncontrollably.

David looked at a spot on the windshield where a fly had been mashed to the window. He knew he would have to let her have her freak out if he was to achieve what he wanted the most.

He thought for a bit longer and then put his hand on her leg trying to console her.

"It's ok Sara, there, there, let it all out. It is best to get all your emotions out. You will need your strength and energy for later", he said soothingly.

Sara flinched when he touched her leg. She tried to relax and not look so disgusted as she thought this would probably enhance the craziness of the psycho sitting next to her.

"I'm better now", she lied unconvincingly. "I just got a shock that's all".

"That's expected", David said still stroking her thigh lovingly like a teenager at a disco.

After a few minutes of silence he said "I I didn't mean to shoot him you know." It was the first time his composure had slipped all evening. "I just get so damn angry and jealous sometimes, especially when I saw the way you were around him, the way you look at him. You would never look at me like that Sara, not when I worked in the lab, not when we went on cases together. Your face lit up when he was around. I wanted that so badly. Do you understand Sara?"

"No, I don't understand any of this fucking madness, and if you think I didn't look at you before you have even less chance now you freak", Sara thought viciously.

Instead she just nodded and forced a smile to her lips.

Her smile instantly gratified him and he leaned over and brushed the tears from her face.

"Maybe you will understand after all", he said trying to convince himself. "Oh Sara, now that he is out of the way I have you all to myself. It will be perfect. Now we can start our date properly", he said in a breezy manner.

"Please God make him kill me next", Sara thought sadly.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Grissom rolled over on to his side and a pain shot through his leg. Just as he was about to be shot he had woken up. His sudden movement had caused his assailant to hesitate before shooting, giving Gil the chance to draw his legs to his waist protectively. It had been enough to throw the gunman's concentration off and it had resulted in him being shot in the thigh instead of the chest.

Blood flowed from the wound and Gil winced as he tried to inspect how badly he had been shot. He took off his belt and tied it around the wound to help stop the bleeding and lifted his leg into the air to stop the flow of blood. He was in agony and because of the blood loss he was feeling very dizzy but he was determined not to succumb to the reverie of unconsciousness. Not while Sara was in danger.

He knew he had to decide on a plan of action, although he knew he wouldn't get far with no car and a wound this severe. It was still worth trying, he wasn't going to give up on Sara no matter what he had to do to save her.

Just as he was about to try and get up to see if he could at least stand let alone walk, he heard footsteps behind him. Blind panic set in and a plethora of thoughts went through his mind at once.

"What if that is him back, what if he has come to finish me off? Does that mean he has killed Sara and returned to the scene to get rid of the evidence, that evidence being me?" Gil thought quickly and desperately.

He looked around the open road; there was literally nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. David had taken off in the Tahoe soon after shooting Gil. Sara had posed as a distraction which inevitably had stopped Gil being killed.

Now lying on the dusty Vegas ground, he wished that the Tahoe had been here for some level of protection. Maybe he might have been passed by unnoticed, maybe he could have crawled around to the other side undetected.

"Maybe I should think of an actual plan without thinking of what could have been", Gil thought.

He looked up to see two faces staring down at him.

"Well this is it", he thought sadly. "Might as well succumb to the inevitable."

He swam in and out of consciousness while awaiting his fate and then felt two hands under his armpits pulling him upwards.

"Where are you taking me?" Gil said groggily. "Please let it be to Sara, please God let her be safe".

"Did he say he hopes we are taking him to Sara?" Warrick asked Nick.

"That is what it sounded like, he must be really worried about her", Nick replied as he helped Warrick to put Grissom in the back of the Tahoe.

"How badly hurt is he?" Nick asked.

"Dunno man, it looks like a fairly deep gunshot wound to the thigh and he has been ruffed up a bit but outside of that, he looks ok. I don't think it is fatal", Warrick said, "but I don't know how much blood he has lost, he seems to be losing consciousness a lot which is never a good sign. We need to get him to a hospital."

"I don't think we have time, we need to make sure Sara is ok. If that guy is capable of doing this to Grissom, God knows what he will do to her. We might just have to patch him up and keep going", Nick explained.

"I have a better idea", Warrick said grabbing his cell from where he had left it on the car dashboard. He dialled 4 on the keypad. It took a while before anyone answered; it was still quite early in the morning.

After a few minutes a groggy and quite cranky voice grumbled "Brass, what do you want?"

"Brass, it's Warrick, we have a situation. Sara has been kidnapped and Grissom has been shot."

"Jesus Christ, is he bad?" Brass asked sounding more awake.

"Bad enough, he has lost a lot of blood and is unconscious but he is ok for the moment. I don't know how much longer he can bleed out for though without it getting serious."

"Have you called the others?"

"Nick is here with me, he alerted me to the situation a while back"

"A while back," Brass exclaimed, "and you are only calling in back up now because?"

"Because we needed to suss the situation out and know what we were dealing with", Warrick continued.

"You were dealing with a kidnapper and a gunman, that should have been enough for you to call for help", Brass said heatedly.

"We didn't know that at the time", Warrick continued the colour rising in his cheeks.

"Look", Brass said breathing more calmly, "that doesn't matter now, what matters is that we get Gil looked after and Sara back in one piece."

"Do you want me to ring Catherine?" Warrick said.

"I will let her know what is going on, but I don't think she needs to be involved in this. Where are you guys?"

"We are outside the Sunrise Vista Golf Club on East Cheyenne Avenue".

"Alright, stay where you are and I will send a team. Don't get any ideas to follow this guy, he is obviously dangerous and we don't know what he is capable of. Do we have any idea who he is or what he wants with Sara?" Brass asked.

"We didn't see his face, maybe he is the guy that we have been trying to put away for Meghan Richardson's murder, who knows?" Warrick said contemplatively.

"Don't worry we will catch the son of a bitch. Ring me if Gil gets any worse ok?"

"Sure thing, thanks man", Warrick said and hung up the phone.

"So what do we do now?" Nick asked rearing to go.

"And now, we wait", Warrick said raising his eyebrow in a "we've no other choice" kind of way.

Nick found a rag that he would use to clean the windshield and wrapped it around Grissom's leg.

"Don't you worry Gil, we will get Sara back safely", he said while he applied pressure to the wound. He just hoped to God for all their sakes that it wasn't already too late.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"So, em where we going?" Sara asked tentatively. She looked at the gas gauge; it was nearly at the E mark. "Can't be too much further now", she thought to herself allowing herself to feel a small sense of relief.

"Well now as if I am just going to volunteer that kind of information Sara. You are the big, important CSI here, based on the evidence presented to you, where would you think we are going?" Dave retorted with a sly grin on his face.

"If I knew that I wouldn't have asked", Sara said sardonically.

Then she began to think about it more rationally and methodically. "If I treat this like one of my cases, I might be able to guess what he is thinking and try and find a way out of this nightmare," she thought hopefully.

"What do you like to do? What are your hobbies?" she began questioning him like a suspect on a case.

"Get a profile of the suspect and then try and out manoeuvre them", Gil had told her once.

"My hobbies?" Dave said quizzically, he was obviously thrown by this new tactic of Sara's.

"Yeah, when you aren't kidnapping and killing people, what do you do for fun?" Sara continued vehemently, her trademark sarcasm coming through in force.

"I like to golf", David continued breezily, completely ignoring her last statement.

"Is that why you brought me to the Golf Club?" she asked.

"No I didn't bring you here because I like to golf, I brought you here because it is an easy place to dump your body," he said, accentuating each word, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sara felt the hair on the back of her neck raise, she knew he wasn't joking. She looked out the window and saw that he had only driven around to the back entrance of the Golf Club. She began to panic as she realised that this may be the last place she would ever see.

"But, but, I thought …" Sara began to stutter.

"You thought what? You thought that we were going to cosy up in the clubhouse with champagne and caviar? Get real Sara," he said.

"I don't understand", she said. "I thought that is what you wanted, our first date remember? You didn't take me all the way out here just to kill me, not when you could have done it in my house, or after you killed Gil", she said her voice beginning to shake.

"Yeah well I was trying to give you a chance to warm to the idea of being with me, but you are as cold as you always were Sara. You don't give a shit about me or anyone else. You are so damn afraid of letting anyone in that you continue to put a wall around you in order to keep everyone at a safe distance. Well, I am going to achieve the greatest feat of all Sara".

"And what is that David?" she asked

He turned and looked her straight in the eye and said "I'm gonna be the one to break the Ice Queen".

The sound of the words reverberated in her ears. "Is that really what the world sees me as? The Ice Queen?" she thought miserably. "If I don't get out of here I will never have the chance to change that opinion of me".

She had always known that people thought she was cool, but she interpreted it as calm, level-headed and collected not cold, standoffish and emotionless.

"Gil loved me", a small voice said in the back of her mind. "I can't have been all bad if he loved me. He saw past all my negative qualities and loved me for who I am, and now I will never have the opportunity to tell him how much I loved him too".

Her heart ached at the reality that she would probably always be alone. The one person who understood her the most was gone, who else would even take the time to get to know her now? Would everyone see her as this steely, ice queen? Was Gil her last chance at true happiness?

"Why the Hell did you have to kill him?" she turned and shouted at David suddenly shaking with rage.

"Are we back to this again?" he asked calmly.

"He was the only man I ever loved and the only man that ever loved me", she continued defiantly.

At this David said slowly and steadily "that isn't true".

"And what the Hell do you know about truth? You have no idea what Gil and I shared and you will never get it", she snapped.

"I know that", David said remaining calm "but what I do know is you said he was the only one who ever loved you, that isn't the truth Sara".

Sara realised that he was talking about himself, and she almost felt sorry for him. But then the pain of Gil's untimely death reminded her how much she hated this guy and the hate rose up her throat, it tasted like battery acid.

"Love?" she laughed harshly. "You don't know the meaning of the word. Do you think that stalking someone, kidnapping them, driving them around in the middle of the night like a maniac and killing the person they value the most in the world is love?" She spat the words out; she was verging on the hysterical now.

"I, I didn't want it to be like this Sara, you know that, but you wouldn't listen, you wouldn't look at me, you wouldn't …." David continued pathetically, he looked tired and drawn.

"Well how the tables have turned", Sara thought to herself. Only a few moments ago, she was the one who had been scared for her life, sure that this maniac would kill her and bury her body right here in the Golf Club. Now seeing him quietly pleading with her she wondered what she had been so frightened of.

"Let's just get this over with," he said suddenly. His mood had shifted dramatically, he now looked a lot more confident and his voice was steadier than before. Sara did not like where this was heading at all. She was worn out, this cat and mouse game had really taken it out of her. She was unaware of what was coming next and that unnerved her.

"Get what over with?" she asked trying to sound brave.

"It is obvious that nothing I have said has made any difference to you Sara, you truly believe that Grissom was the only one who had any feelings for you, you aren't willing to give us a chance and frankly you have been nothing but rude and offensive since I collected you tonight".

He spoke to her as if he was a teenager picking up his highschool sweetheart for their first date.

"I tried to show you a good time, I offered you my love, I brought you here for a date and what do you do? You spend the night talking about another guy. That isn't very nice Sara; in fact it is downright ignorant. Have you no manners at all? Were you never taught to say please and thank you?" he continued to rant looking straight out the window. A vein in his temple was pulsating wildly and he was starting to sweat. He looked as if he was going to have an aneurysm.

David was displaying obvious signs of schizophrenia and manic depression.

"This guy is even crazier than I had thought" Sara thought becoming increasingly frightened. "How the Hell am I going to get away from him?" she thought racking her brains for some escape mechanism.

Then a thought came to her.

"It might just work", she thought.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Gil opened his eyes slowly, the pain coursed through his body. He looked upwards to many stark white tiles above his head.

"Where am I?" he thought sluggishly.

Without his glasses his eyesight was quite poor anyway, but having endured hours of drifting in and out of consciousness wasn't helping the matter. He had no idea where he was or how he got there.

"Gil?" a soft female voice whispered somewhere in the distance.

His thoughts suddenly became clear and he sat bolt right up in the bed; the mix of sudden movement and the feeling of fresh blood pouring out of his leg was enough to make him slump back against the pillows behind his head. Feeling quite nauseous from his Indiana Jones style leap back into consciousness, the most he could manage was to croak Sara's name repeatedly.

"Gil? It's me Catherine. You're ok now. You're in the hospital" Catherine Willows the strawberry blonde CSI had been next to Gil's bed since they transported him to hospital earlier that morning. She had received a call from Brass telling her that Sara had been kidnapped and Gil had been shot. She had called the childminder straight away and come straight to the hospital where she met Gil as they brought him in from the ambulance. She had been sitting next to his bed ever since waiting for him to come round.

When she heard Gil repeating Sara's name she felt tears prickling her eyelids, they were all feeling the strain of not knowing where she was or what was happening. She knew however, that Gil was close to Sara both on a professional and emotional level, and because of this she knew how it must be eating him up that he couldn't protect her.

He cared about his team as he would have for his own children, had he ever taken time out from his scientific life to settle down and have some.

"We haven't heard anything yet Gil, I don't know what is going on", Catherine said meekly as if she knew what he wanted to ask her the most. She looked at him intently, not really knowing what to say next, wishing that she had more information to give him. He looked old and worn out, nothing like the strong, decisive leader that they knew.

Gil opened his eyes once more and tried to concentrate hard on the words he was about to say.

"She……is…alive." he finally managed with considerable effort.

"Gil, we don't know that for sure", Catherine said softly yet determinately.

"I know Catherine", Gil continued a little louder and a little stronger this time.

Catherine wasn't sure what to do, she knew from her training to be direct in these situations, you shouldn't lead someone to believe something that may not be true. It was always tougher to apply training when it was your own boss that needed the strong and firm treatment. Still, she couldn't allow him to think that Sara was definitely alive when they couldn't confirm or deny it either way.

"Gil," she started softly, sighing heavily as her head tried to work out which words were best to use in this delicate, emotionally charged situation. "We can't be sure that Sara is still alive, you know that. We have to wait until we get confirmation from Brass", she continued bravely.

"I know" Gil said a second time. "And I will tell you how I know", he said as he remained with his eyes closed and his voice at the same just audible level.

"The reason I know Catherine is because if Sara's heart had stopped beating then so would mine", and with this he opened his eyes, shifted slightly and looked straight into Catherine's eyes. He continued, "she is my lifeline Cath, my heartbeat, my reason for being. So you see, if she was no longer alive, I too would be dead Catherine, and that's how I know she is still here, still holding on, still fighting the good fight," he finished quietly with one of his trademark enigmatic half-smiles, although behind the smile there was genuine fear and anguish in his eyes.

"Wow, I had no idea", Catherine said trying desperately to take in all that Gil had just uttered.

"Up until recently I had no idea either Cath, and this episode has done nothing but re-inforce my feelings and strengthen my love for her."

Catherine had never heard Gil use the word love in anything except the context of insects and his classical music collection, certainly this was the first time where he had described love in relation to a human being. It was strange but yet strangely nice at the same time. The tenderness in which he spoke about Sara left Catherine with no doubt in her mind that this was the real deal. The otherwise often emotionally-stilted Gil Grissom was in love. "There's hope for us all" she thought sarcastically.

Her thoughts turned to Sara, did she know about Gil's feelings? Would she ever get the chance to hear the poignant, evocative words of love come from Gil's lips? "Would she die not knowing how the team and particularly her boss really felt about her?

"Jesus, bring her home safely", Catherine prayed silently.

"It will be okay Gil, Sara is a fighter, she will be able to get through this. Besides, Brass, Nick and Warrick are on the case, you know they are three of the best in this business, they won't leave a stone unturned until they have found her."

"I have complete faith in them Cath, but the competency of the team isn't what needs to be worried about right now. Sara is in the hands of a psycho who was one of us. Dave Phillips has had the same training as you guys, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the team. He knows what moves we will make and he will have plotted it out so he is three steps ahead of us at each step. It will be more difficult than we imagine."

"Dave Phillips?" Catherine asked incredulously, her voice rising to a panicked shriek.

"Surely, ye knew?" Gil asked growing more anxious.

"No-one mentioned it to me Gil, I don't think the guys knew who had taken Sara. I gotta ring Brass", she said and with that grabbed her cell and headed for the hospital car-park.

Within seconds she had flipped open her phone and dialled Brass' number.

"Brass"

"It's Dave Phillips, that's who has Sara", Catherine said quickly.

"Woah, calm down Cath, who did you say?"

"Dave Phillips, the ex CSI lab technician", Catherine explained.

"Anything else we need to know about this guy?"

"Yeah, when he worked in the lab he had a crush on Sara and we used to tease him for it. After a pause she continued "Well at least we know his primary motive".

"Jeez bet you didn't realise he would come back and get his revenge huh?" Brass said lightly.

"Let's just hope he hasn't time to serve that particular dish cold", Catherine said hanging up the phone.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Dave Phillips?" Nick asked again.

"That's what Brass said", Warrick repeated for the third time.

Nick thumped the dashboard of the Tahoe, "That cowardly son-of-a-bitch is the cause of all tonight's trouble?"

"It appears so", Warrick said in his typically unphased style. "But we can't be too laid back about him Nick, we don't know what he is capable of, look what he did to Grissom".

Nick looked at Warrick intently "Do you think he has it in him to kill Sara?"

"Who knows man? Since when have we ever been able to tell what the crazies are gonna do?" Warrick said raising his eyebrow. "I think we would be best to continue as if we don't know who it is. It will impair our judgement if we act like we know the guy. The truth is we only talked to him a half dozen times, what do we really know about him at all? We gotta stay objective on this one Nick, for Sara's sake".

"Agreed", Nick said and he resumed chewing his lip in the way that he was most accustomed to when he was nervous or thinking or both.

Warrick looked out the window of the Tahoe to where Dave and Sara were parked in the distance.

"Jesus, this waiting around is killing me", Nick whined.

"He is waiting for good reason Nicky, we just haven't figured out what it is yet".

With that the driver's door of the black Tahoe opened and slowly Dave Phillips emerged. He was looking around him nervously, constantly checking that they hadn't been followed. When he was happy the coast was clear he reached in to the passenger side and dragged Sara out.

"She mustn't be conscious, Sara would never let someone man handle her without any attempt at fighting back", Warrick said, his tone not as steady as before.

"Is she …?" Nick started

"Hard to tell man, we are too far away", Warrick answered reading his thoughts perfectly.

"So then why are we waiting here? Let's go. We still have the chance to save her", Nick said emphatically.

'Not yet Nicky, we don't know what we are dealing with, he could have a number of accomplices in that building, surely you aren't suggesting we go in without backup?"

"If he has a gang of accomplices in there, it is all the more reason to get in there", Nick said the colour starting to rise in his cheeks.

"Nick, we are CSI's not rookie cops, would you go in there under any other circumstances? If this was another case, that was a vic we didn't know and a perp we'd never heard of? You know you wouldn't, so why are you letting your feelings get in the way of your judgement now man?" Warrick continued determinately. "If we march in there now without any backup or even a plan of any sort, we are not only endangering Sara's lives but we are also endangering our own. What good are we to anyone if we get killed?"

"I know you are right Warrick but it is so damn hard to sit here doing nothing".

"What would we do in any other case like this?" Warrick asked him more gently this time.

"I'll call Brass let him know the developments", Nick said surrendering.

Warrick heaved a sigh of relief, he knew that Nick could be hot headed and it wouldn't be the first time it had got him into situations of bad judgement which had left him in dangerous life threatening situations. At least he had made him see sense, it sure wasn't easy, all Warrick wanted to do was go in there and tear that guy limb from limb, but for the sake of Sara's wellbeing he couldn't go in there without thinking it through completely. They needed to get Brass to surround the area with cops and do an old fashioned stakeout. Warrick just hoped that it wouldn't be too late and that Sara would still be left unharmed. Working through the sequence of events in his mind, he doubted that they had much time left.

"And what can we do in the meantime Brass? How can you expect us to just sit hear and do nothing, this is killing us man", Nick shouted heatedly down the phone. "Fine Brass, but if anything happens her it will be on your head", he continued and then hung up.

"What did Brass say?" Warrick asked.

"Not much", Nick answered huffily.

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Warrick asked showing obvious signs on impatience.

"We are supposed to sit here and do nothing while that freak has Sara and is doing God knows what to her", Nick replied his voice starting to shake.

Warrick put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It will be ok Nicky", he said a lot more gently.

"How will it? We have no idea what is going on, we don't know if she is even still alive, every minute that passes by, every second that it takes for Brass to get his ass in gear, she could be slipping away Warrick", and with that Nick broke down in tears.

Warrick couldn't stand this for a minute longer, his boss was in hospital having been shot, one of his colleagues was sitting sobbing his heart out from a combination of frustration, fear, worry and exhaustion and his other colleague, well who knew what Sara was being put through by her abductor. After consoling Nick for a few minutes he decided to ring Catherine and check on Gil's progress.

"Hey Cath, it's Warrick. How's things?"

"Hey Warrick, Grissom is doing better than we'd hoped, he is sleeping at the moment, the drugs they gave him for the pain are finally kicking in. He lost a lot of blood though in the attack, he is very weak," she explained.

"Well at least he is through the worst of it, that's good. He gave us one Hell of a scare Cath".

"Yeah I know what you mean, when I got the call I thought he was going to …", her voice trailed off, she exhaled loudly as if she was trying to expunge the notion of Gil's death from her body.

"Yeah but he didn't", Warrick intercepted.

She continued "any word on Sara?"

"Not yet, we are at a bit of a loss to know what to do. Brass has told us to sit tight, but it is damn hard when we know she is so close to us and we can't help. He could be doing anything to her right now. Goddamn it I feel so useless", he said quietly.

"Brass knows what he is doing Warrick, we have never doubted him on any other case, and we can't start now because it is one of our own. We already have one member of the team down and another missing; there is no point you and Nicky going in guns blazing and getting hurt too. Just wait it out Warrick, it will be over soon", she said trying to hard to sound optimistic when in truth she was scared to death about how this case would turn out.

"K I'm gonna go and see if we can get closer to the building and see what is going on. Catherine, thanks", he said softly.

"Anytime." Catherine said and hung up the phone.

Nick composed himself and looked sheepishly at Warrick. "Hey, sorry bout that man, don't know what came over me, suppose it is just getting to me more than I though it would, you know?" he said struggling to find the right words to describe the emotional rollercoaster of the past few hours.

"Sorry bout what?" Warrick asked smiling at Nick.

Nick's cell rang.

"Gentlemen, I would like to invite you both into the Golf Club, you must be frozen sitting in the car for so long. Come in here where it is warmer, you are just in time for the main show", Dave Phillips snarled.

Nick hung up without saying a word.

"Was that Brass?" Warrick asked.

"No, that was Dave Phillips, he knew we were here all the time, he just rang to invite us to come along and see the show", Nick said his jaw set tightly in apparent anger. "What do we do now? We can't stay here now, our cover is blown and now that he knows he has less time on his hands, he won't be hanging around."

"Well it would be impolite to refuse", Warrick said quizzically and added "I'll ring Brass and tell him what's going on. Let's go nail this bastard Nick".

The two CSI's went to the trunk of the Tahoe, got their bullet proof vests on, reloaded their guns and headed towards the club with a new cockiness in their step. They were about to go do what they loved best, putting the bad guys away, and adrenaline was coursing though their veins.

"We're coming Sara, just hold on a little longer", Nick whispered to the night air and the surrounding sands of the Las Vegas desert.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Nick and Warrick had called Brass and filled him in on the latest developments. Brass had told them not to do anything until he got there with back up, but Warrick knew that trying to keep Nick from entering the golf club would have been like trying to hold back a bull from charging at a red rag, and that wasn't one job he wanted to have to do. Even Warrick who was always laid back and calm in situations like this, wanted nothing more than to go in and save Sara from her abductor, so when he got off the phone to Brass, he told Nick they had the go ahead. He would deal with the fallout of breaking protocol after Sara was safe.

The two CSI's had reached the door of the Golf Club, and could hear Sara screaming for help.

"At least that means she is still alive man", Warrick said desperately trying to get the best out of an evidently grim situation.

"Yeah but for how much longer?" Nick said.

"Well let's get in there and ensure she doesn't check out any time soon then", Warrick said with steely determination while taking the safety off his gun.

When Dave had dragged Sara into the golf club she had been unconscious, as she started to come round, she couldn't quite make out where she was or what was happening to her.

"Where the Hell am I?" she thought groggily, reaching to the back of her head, she could feel a lump starting to rise from where her head had hit the ground.

Sara began to shiver uncontrollably from a combination of fear, coldness and exhaustion.

She tried to get up from where she was but was unable to with the leather restraint around her waist. Trying to get her bearings she looked down to see that she was tied to a metal table similar to a coroner's slab. Her clothes had been removed with the exception of her underwear. To her left there was a tray laid out with various medical instruments.

Panic began to well up inside her; she knew this could only end in disaster. Her eyes darted around the room trying to locate Dave. She couldn't see him anywhere.

"Please God, make him have gone out for supplies, it might just bide me the time I need to get out of this," she prayed desperately.

The room was dark except for one neon light hanging above her head, her eyes strained to focus in the harsh lighting. As she looked around the room there were blue spots in front of her eyes.

She heard a voice in the corner.

"Yes she is still out cold, look I don't know how much time I have to do this before her brat pack arrives, you need to get over here ASAP Doc, I can't do this on my own. 40 minutes?

I don't have that kind of time; you will have to talk me through the procedure on the phone. Yes I have everything, instruments, ice and a whole lot of rage, what more do I need? Of course I have the nerve to do this, before tonight is out I am gonna show Sara Sidle and the rest of the CSI team, how good a coroner I could have been if they hadn't fired me. Only I won't be performing an autopsy, cos she will still be alive" Dave said and then laughed maniacally.

"Just tell me where to make the first incision Doc, and I will take it from there. Sara is finally gonna live up to her heartless image, literally," he said into his cell.

Sara could feel the hot tears streaming down her face. She had no way out of this; she was going to become a victim, like the thousands of murdered people she had investigated over the years. She was going to be the team's next case. "Jesus is this what slaving away for years on end has led me to?" she thought miserably to herself. "At least I will be with Gil soon that is all that matters now", she concluded. If she was going to be cut open by this psychopath, she was going to have to focus on something to get her through the next few painful hours. That something would be the love of her life, Gil Grissom. The thought of Gil's face and the happiness that they could have shared together was enough to make her start sobbing uncontrollably. It was also enough to get the attention of her abductor.

"Hang on Doc, I think sleeping beauty just woke up", Dave said into the phone. "I'll call you back."

Dave came towards her and started to stroke her tear-stricken cheek.

"Morning beautiful, glad you could join us", he said to her softly. "What has you all upset?"

"The fact that you are going to hack me into little pieces may have something to do with it, you sick freak", Sara said with new found strength. She was not going to let this guy think he had the better of her. She would go down all guns blazing.

"Did your mother never tell you it was rude to eavesdrop Sara?" Dave said in a dangerously low tone. He picked up the scalpel and held it to her ear. "Little girls that listen to grown up conversations that they shouldn't listen to get punished Sara. I think I should cut your ear off first so you won't be able to listen into people's business ever again, what do you think?"

"I think you are fucking nuts", Sara said, no longer abiding by her don't-piss-off-the-psycho rule.

"Well true as that may be Sara, I am the one who is standing here with the scalpel and you are the one lying on a metal slab, so you are hardly in a position to give a psychiatric evaluation now are you?" Dave said a little bit louder than before.

"So where shall we start Sara? Ladies choice, I insist. Shall we start with the ear that led you to the information of your demise, or would you prefer somewhere else?"

He spoke to her like a well trained waiter reading the specials from a menu board. All of his previous nerves had disappeared only to be replaced with a new confidence that Sara did not like or trust one little bit. She honestly believed that he was going to go through with this crazy scenario. The worst part was that she could see no way out of it, she was at his mercy.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Nick and Warrick approached the side of the golf club; they had no idea what they were going to walk in to see. They just hoped that it wouldn't be too grim. No training could prepare them to see one of their closest colleagues becoming their latest vic.

They opened the door and walked into a room which was laid out like a gallery in an operating theatre where junior doctors could observe a procedure being done for educational purposes.

Confused they groped around in the dark and found seats. They both kept their guns out ready for any situation.

They looked around trying to work out what was going on.

"What the Hell is this place?" Nick whispered to Warrick not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to them.

"I don't know man, but I don't like it one little bit" Warrick said tentatively.

"Gentlemen, I am so glad you could join us", a voice said coming through speakers at the back of the room.

Nick walked up to the glass and banged his fists on it saying "where the Hell are you? Come out and show yourself like a real man".

"All in good time Mr. Stokes, please remain in your seat," the voice continued.

Warrick got up and put his hand on Nick's shoulder, "best to do what he says for now Nick, we don't want him to do something irrational, not when we don't know what he has done with Sara" he whispered.

Nick said down slowly, he hated this waiting game. He wanted to know where Sara was so he could at least try and save her before it was too late.

"Ok we are here now; you have our attention, let us know that Sara is ok." Warrick said in a neutral non-threatening tone.

"It would be my pleasure Mr Brown", Dave replied while turning on the neon light which revealed Sara strapped to the metal slab, with marks on her torso of where he was going to make the incisions in which to remove her organs.

"Sara!" Nick and Warrick both screamed together.

"Jesus, what have you done to her?" Nick shouted.

"I haven't done anything to her yet, Mr Stokes, just prepped the body for the autopsy, that's all. What fun would it have been to do it without an audience?"

"Sara, Sara, can you hear us? It's Warrick and Nick, you need to get out of there Sara," Nick shouted in desperation at the glass.

"She can't hear you Nick, she is unconscious. I just hope it won't stop her from feeling anything that would be no fun at all" Dave said.

"You sick bastard, why are you doing this?" Nick asked.

"Why? Why Mr Stokes? You really have to ask such a stupid question? Well let me explain it to you, while I wait for my friend to get here to assist in the autopsy. See Nick, only living people have working organs, and blood running through their veins, I suppose that is what sets us apart from the dead really", he paused as if to consider what he had just said, "and as we both know Sara is and has been dead on the inside for a very long time.

When was the last time you saw her display any kind of emotion? Or act anything less than icy towards people? I know you all just think she is being professional. That word professional seems to cover so much these days; well I don't think it cuts it anymore. Professional shouldn't mean impersonal, cold, cutting and down right rude, they are all the qualities that Sara possesses and that is the only way she knows how to act. She has never treated anyone with an inch of warmth. She has never known sunshine in that eternal Winter garden where she dwells. It is sad really", he concluded with real emotion in his voice. He turned to look at her where she slept peacefully.

During this speech Warrick had slipped out the door they had entered, he had to find the door to the makeshift theatre in order to save Sara's skin. He had told Nick to keep Dave busy in the meantime.

"So what has all that got to do with slicing her apart?" Nick asked trying to keep Dave busy thus biding Warrick some valuable time.

"Because you thick jock, if the living are supposed to have living organs and blood flowing through their veins, then obviously the dead aren't. And although Sara has a pulse that is the only thing that distinguishes her from the dead, that and at the moment she has healthy organs which work perfectly well. Something that I am going to change so she will slowly bleed out and finally join the land of the dead where she will fit in so well. Do you finally get it? I am going to help her get to the place she most wants to be, away from the likes of us people with real emotion, warmth and love."

"Good God, this guy thinks he is doing her a favour by killing her? He really is nuts", Nick thought to himself.

There was still no sign of Warrick or this doctor that Dave kept talking about; Nick wondered what he would talk to Dave about now. The more time he could stall him for the more chance Warrick had of getting in there and saving Sara.

Nick felt like a negotiator in a hostage situation, the hair at the nape of his neck stood on end and sweat trickled down his back. He knew that he was the difference between Sara being cut open or not, he had to come up with something to keep this crazy guy talking about.

"So who is this doctor you are expecting? Why do you need him?" Nick asked.

"You don't know him; he is just a friend of mine who is adept in the ways of surgery. I want to make sure I don't make a fatal incision in one of the major arteries that would kill her too quickly. I want this to be as slow as painful as it has been for me made me since she rejected me", he said bitterly.

"Now we are getting to the heart of the matter", Nick thought to himself.

"Have you talked to Sara about this?" Nick asked his tone softer this time. He had changed from negotiator to therapist.

"She didn't want to know", Dave said sulkily. He reminded Nick of a teenager who had been turned down by everyone for the Senior Prom.

"But you tried talking to her right? Sara can be quite stubborn, sometimes you have to tell her things more than once for her to get the message. She can be a bit self-involved you know?" Nick continued cautiously.

"You think so too? I thought it was just me that thought that. She is so damn stubborn, all the time I worked with you guys she never even noticed me, then when she did finally notice it was too late. I asked her out and she laughed in my face Nick. Do you know how that feels?" Dave asked softly, more introspective now than before.

"Well of course you don't know," he said laughing softly to himself. "You are the handsome jock with the sexy Southern drawl that all women love; I bet you have never been rejected in your whole life. Am I right?"

"Bull's-eye" Nick thought.

"Actually, I have been rejected once Dave."

"Yeah?" Dave asked looking up at Nick now, feeling some kind of bond with him all of a sudden.

"Yeah sure I have buddy", Nick continued desperately trying to earn his trust.

"In fact you probably aren't going to believe this when I tell you", Nick said.

"Try me", Dave said more interested now.

"Well, it's a bit embarrassing man to tell you the truth, but the only woman who has ever turned me down is the same woman that turned you down".

"Really?" Dave asked visibly shocked by this admission.

"Straight up man", Nick continued. "I wasn't long in the job and I thought Sara was a real stunner, so I asked her to go to a basketball game with me, and she flat out turned me down. She thought I was a jock and because of that I was evidently stupid in her eyes. She laughed at me man, it was hard to take. But I had to swallow that for the sake of my career, it eats me up every day. So you see man, I understand where you are coming from. She has got away with it one time too many, she has to learn right?" Nick finished with an angry tone. He just hoped and prayed it had worked.

"Right, exactly Nick, you do get it. I thought I was crazy but I'm not, you really get what I am saying, why I have to go to such extreme measures to show her what she is doing to guys can't be tolerated anymore. You understand, you understand." Dave said the words very fast, almost more to himself than to Nick.

"I do understand Dave, I really do, and I think that Sara needs to be taught a lesson for once and for all. Look, I might be completely out of line here, but as your good friend the doctor hasn't shown up, why don't I come down there and help you finish the bitch off? We will show her good and proper Dave."

"Please God make it have been enough" Nick prayed pleadingly.

"You would do that?" Dave asked uncertainly.

"Are you kidding me? I have been looking for a reason to show that bitch right from wrong ever since she blew me off, but I never had a golden opportunity like this before. We have to move quickly though Dave, I don't know how much longer we have before Brass and the others get here".

"Shit, I hadn't thought of that, we need to get going", Dave said picking up the scalpel and running it along Sara's taut stomach. Just as he was about to make the first incision above her liver, Nick said "Hey man, you gonna have all the fun? Come on, let me help. You know you can't do it on your own. You need someone to hold the bitch down if she comes round. Let me be your right hand man".

"Emm, I'm not sure, can I trust him?" Dave asked himself uncertainly. "It is better than no-one, I will need someone when she wakes up which will more than likely be when I make the first cut."

He hesitated then finally said "ok but I am trusting you Nick, that isn't something I do lightly, but I do need your help on this one".

"Ok now you're talking" Nick said, the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He had no idea where Warrick had got to; he would have to worry about him afterwards. He just hoped that Dave didn't notice Warrick was missing, up to this Nick had been lucky.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Ok man, I am coming down now; you have to tell me where the door is so I know how to get in to help you." Nick said, ever conscious that this could all go pear-shaped at any moment.

"Yeah of course, you need to come round the front of the Golf Club and I will unlock the door for you." Dave said.

"Hey Nick, where is Warrick gone?" he asked.

"Shit, shit, shit" Nick thought to himself. "Dear Jesus don't make me blow this now that I am so close".

"Emm not sure man, he stepped out a while back, I think he was going to check on Brass, he must have got stopped in his tracks that he hasn't come back. Let's not worry about him anyway, not when we are both so close to our ultimate goal." Nick replied hoping that it was enough to convince Dave to let him in to the room.

"I'm not convinced man, I might just go outside and look for him, it won't take long", Dave said, panic starting to become audible in his voice.

"I tell you what Dave, why don't I check for Warrick, as I am on my way down anyway, and if he is around I will get rid of him. You don't want to leave Sara unattended do you? What if she was to wake up while you were outside? She would surely escape. You can't afford to take that risk Dave, not when you are this close."

"I guess you are right Nick, ok you check for Warrick and get rid of him, but don't be long ok? We gotta get going on this." Dave said, he was much brighter than before, he completely trusted Nick now.

Nick hadn't thought it would be so easy to gain his trust, still he wasn't complaining. He just knew he couldn't afford to mess this up at all. One step wrong and Dave would be on to his game. That is the last thing him or Sara needed right now.

Nick walked out the door that he and Warrick had come in earlier on. He had no idea how long he had been in there on his own, but it honestly felt like a lifetime.

He walked down the steps and saw Warrick slumped at the end, blood trickled from his forehead.

Nick rushed down and shook him gently. "Warrick, can you hear me man?" he asked.

Warrick opened his eyes and looked groggily at Nick "hey what happened? Did we save Sara?"

"Not yet, but we are going to. You have to pretend like you are still unconscious ok? I am gonna drag you into the room with me and Dave, just look like you are out cold and you should come to no harm. I will tell him I knocked you out, which should make him trust me more. Just take my lead the whole time ok?" Nick explained quickly.

"You have a plan?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, I do, I just hope it works. Keep one eye half open so you can see me giving you the signal and when I do, get your gun out and shoot his sorry ass ok?"

"Ok man, just be careful", Warrick said groggily.

"I'll be fine don't worry", Nick said more in an attempt to convince himself than Warrick.

He dragged Warrick around to the front of the club, and banged on the door three times.

Dave's voice came from behind the door "is that you Nick?"

"Yeah and I have Warrick with me. He won't be any trouble to us now. Let me in Dave".

Dave opened the door and said "Hey man" and shook his hand like he was throwing a barbecue in his house and Nick was guest of honour.

He tried to appear as normal as possible. "Hey man, let's get this party started!" Nick said hoping his voice didn't sound forced.

Nick dragged Warrick into a corner making sure he would be able to see Nick easily.

Nick went to where Sara was lying down, he touched her arm, it was freezing from her lying semi-naked for so long. He felt the emotion rising in his throat at the sign of her so helpless.

"Keep it together Nicky, it isn't for too much longer" he reminded himself.

Dave handed Nick the scalpel and said "make the first cut Nick".

Nick took the scalpel and placed it over Sara's stomach along one of the lines Dave had drawn on her. Just as he pressed the scalpel against her skin, Sara opened her eyes and gave Nick a look of relief.

"Thank God you are here Nicky, I thought I was going to die, you have to get me out of here before he comes back", she said in a rush of emotion. She looked behind Nick and saw Dave standing behind him.

"Look out Nick", she said in an exhausted tiny voice. The room was still swimming.

She looked at Nick and wondered why he wasn't moving away from Dave, and why he wasn't he trying to untie her?

Nick looked at her pleadingly and whispered "sorry".

She looked down and saw the scalpel in his hand, and the realisation that she was very far from safe crashed down on her like a tidal wave. She began to cry hysterically. "Why would Nick do this?" her voice cried out in her head.

Nick could feel Dave staring at him, if he didn't at least draw blood, his cover would be blown. He pressed the scalpel harder into Sara's stomach; he could feel the tears stinging the back of his eyes. He tried to give her a look of "please trust me Sara" he wasn't sure if it helped her.

She looked at him and said in a barely audible whisper, "why?"

That one word was enough to cut through to Nick's soul. He knew it was now or never, as he ran the scalpel along her stomach, he could feel his legs start to weaken. One stray tear ran down his cheek.

Sara looked down at the blood trickling across her stomach. She looked at Nick in complete confusion but when she saw that he was crying; his plan suddenly became crystal clear to her.

She mouthed "it's ok, I understand" to him.

Nick saw exactly what she had said, and composed himself with the reassurance that she didn't think he was betraying her.

He smiled gently at her and raised the scalpel to look like he was going to plunge it into her. Dave caught his hand.

"He has sussed it, it's all over", Nick thought to himself.

"Hey Nicky, you only get the first cut remember? My turn now" Dave said taking the scalpel from Nick.

Nick grimaced at Dave calling him Nicky, that was a name reserved for those people that cared about him, not psychos who were about to hack his colleague to bits.

"So what will I do in the meantime?" Nick asked.

"You have two options, you can either watch the bitch squirm or go check on Warrick in the corner, up to you really."

Nick walked over to Warrick, knelt down beside him and whispered to him, "get your gun out, you are going to need it in the next few seconds. As soon as you see Dave putting that scalpel near Sara I need you to get up and shoot him ok?"

"With pleasure man" Warrick said, getting his gun out of its holster.

Nick returned to Dave's side, "he's still sleeping like a baby Dave, the coast is clear. I'll hold her down, you cut the bitch good".

"It's been almost too easy", Dave said, sounding almost suspicious, "still I suppose it helps to have one of Gil's best on my side, right Nicky?"

At the mention of Gil's name Sara could feel herself starting to sob again. Nick saw her getting upset and put his hand over her mouth. He needed Dave to remain calm; the sight of Sara getting upset over another man's name wouldn't do her any favours.

"And you can shut the fuck up too", he said to Sara in his most aggressive voice.

"You tell her Nicky", Dave said and laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

He continued along the line that Nick had cut and put the scalpel into her much deeper than Nick had, her blood spurting out; the pain evident in her face. Determined not to let Dave see he was getting to her, she bit down on the palm of Nick's hand to stop herself screaming out. Nick winced in pain, but didn't let Dave see.

Within seconds Warrick was on his feet and had the butt of his gun pressed against Dave's ear.

"Drop the scalpel", he said in a steady voice.

Dave looked at Warrick in shock.

"I thought you said he was out cold Nick" he said in a very small, confused voice.

"Guess he woke up", Nick said as he took his own gun and placed it in the small of Dave's back.

"It's over Dave, drop the scalpel." Warrick said.

"Not before I do that bitch some serious damage", Dave thought to himself. He picked up the scalpel and drove it straight into her chest.

Sara screamed in agony and Warrick fired his gun, blowing Dave Phillips head off.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Nick pressed his hand to Sara's chest trying to stop the bleeding.

"Any excuse Nicky", Sara said trying to smile through the agony.

Nick flushed red. "Whatever you say Sara, just get out of this ok, so you can hit me properly for groping you at such an inappropriate time!"

"Oh don't worry that won't be the only thing I will be hitting you for Nicky", she said, her breath coming in gasps now. Her laughter soon turned to fits of coughing, blood trickled from her mouth.

"Warrick, where is that ambulance?"

"It's on the way Nick, it will be here in five, just keep your hand on that wound ok?"

"Don't worry I am not going anywhere", Nick said pressing harder on Sara's chest. She was losing a lot of blood and was starting to become very pale and sweaty looking.

"Stay with me darling", Nick said in his soft drawl, "we are nearly there now, not long before you get to see the others".

"Did we lose anyone else Nicky?" Sara asked softly.

"No Sara, not as far as I know, everyone is doing fine".

She started to cry again.

"Sara its ok. Just a few more minutes and this ordeal will all be over".

"It will never be over Nicky, not for me".

"Of course it will, you are going to move past this Sara, you can't hold on to one bad experience, you know that right? You are too damn good at your job to throw it away because of one crazy guy. Besides, he isn't going to be giving anyone hassle from here on in", Nick said looking at the bloody remains of Dave Phillips' body slumped on the ground.

"How's Warrick doing?" Sara asked, passing over the subject. The reason she couldn't go on wasn't because of this ordeal, it was because her life was over without Gil. How could she explain this to Nick? And why wasn't he realising that fact anyway? She isn't the only one that would have to try and get on with life without him. The entire team had lost their leader and friend not just her. Was Nick just trying to dwell on the good things in light of the exceptionally grim situation they were in?

"He's quiet Sara but I think he is ok. He did what he needed to do."

Warrick rang the ambulance crew again. "Where the Hell are you guys? She is bleeding out here; can you step on it please?"

"They'll be here in five Sara just hang on" Warrick said as he took her hand.

"How you doing Nick? You need me to take over?" Warrick asked.

"I got it man, I just need the damn paramedics to show up, and she can't afford to lose much more blood."

"Hey, why don't ye try not talking about me like I am not here", Sara said in her characteristic sardonic way. Her words were coming slowly and her breathing was becoming more shallow. Both Warrick and Nick knew she didn't have that long left. She needed to get to a hospital in the next few minutes. They heard the ambulance pulling up outside the Golf Club.

"Thank God", Nick said silently.

"Ok Sara, let's go get you fixed up", Nick said trying his best to sound upbeat.

"So you can take your hand off my boobs now? Is that what you are telling me Nicky?" she said managing her devilish smile.

"You're welcome!" Nick retorted sarcastically.

"We'll follow you to the hospital ok?" Warrick said and kissed her on the forehead.

"Guys", Sara said, "Thanks".

"Any time beautiful", Nick said.

They jumped in the Tahoe and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

"She is coming round", Catherine said to the others.

Sara had endured hours of surgery, it had been touch and go a few times, but with the help of a blood transfusion, they had managed to replace the blood she had lost and although it would take time, she was going to be just fine.

She opened her eyes slowly and saw Catherine, Nick, Warrick & Greg sitting round her bed.

"Well hey there", she said groggily.

"Hey yourself", Catherine said hugging her tenderly, being careful to not hurt her. "You gave us quite a fright Sara. We thought we had…… well that doesn't matter now, you are here and ok," she continued hugging her again.

"I gave myself a fright too, there were more than a couple of times I thought I was going to the eternal staff room in the sky. Still at least I would have been in good company with Gil", Sara said the tears flowing freely down her face.

"Did someone mention my name?" Gil said arriving in with cups of coffee for everyone.

"Gil?" Sara asked quizzically.

"Last time I checked", he said as calm as ever.

"But, but… he … I don't understand? Am I dreaming?" Sara asked thoroughly confused and convinced that she was having some anaesthetic induced dream.

"I am here now that's all that matters Sara", Gil said quietly.

Catherine turned to the others "let's give these two some time together ok?" She was the only one who knew the truth of their feelings, and they needed time and space to work that out on their own.

Each one in turn went and kissed Sara on the forehead, and told her they would check in tomorrow.

Sara didn't even notice they were gone; she only had eyes for Gil. He was like a vision in front of her. She still couldn't work out if he was real or not.

"Are you an angel Gil?" she asked him softly, lifting her hand to his face and tracing the lines on his cheek with her finger.

"Contrary to popular belief, I haven't always been good Sara, I have my moments too you know", he said smiling at her.

"But I saw Dave kill you, I heard the gun, so I can't understand how you are here", Sara said still confused by all this.

"Sara, you heard the gunshot alright, but you didn't see me die did you? Never assume anything until you have all the evidence presented to you. That is one of the first things I taught you".

"Gil, it is you", she said sitting up in the bed, blatantly ignoring her pain and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I thought I had lost you forever", she said. "I should have told you earlier on as soon as you told me… …"

"Yes Sara?" Gil said looking directly into her beautiful eyes. He could happily spend eternity swimming in those eyes he thought to himself dreamily.

"I love you too Gil", Sara continued. For the first time in her life, she wasn't scared or worried about someone's reaction. If tonight had taught her anything it was to say exactly what she felt from here on in. It was fear that had made her come across as so cold and emotionless for so long. Not any more. She had her arms around the love of her life and she was on the cusp of the rest of her life with him, things couldn't be much better.

"You do Sara?" Gil asked cautiously. "Really?"

"You are the reason I am here Gil, Nick and Warrick saved my body, but you saved my soul and spirit. The whole way through this horrendous ordeal, I just concentrated on you, I kept thinking of how much you loved me, and I knew I had to keep going for you. Even when I thought you were gone, I still thought that I had to keep going, it is what you would have wanted. I knew you were with me Gil. I know it sounds crazy but you brought me home, you got me through all this. I never thought I would see you again, but knowing how much you loved me was enough to get me through. So yes Gil, I really, truly and completely love you, and now that you are here I am not going to let you go again. I love you, I love you, I love you", she said and then kissed him gently on the lips.

Gil brushed a stray tear away from his cheek, he had never been so happy in all his life. He and Sara had journeyed so far to get to this point, and now that he was here he couldn't quite believe it.

"Thank you", he said. It was the only word he could find. Her speech had entirely and utterly left him speechless.

"Thank you for believing in my love for you and getting home safely", he said kissing her forehead, then her nose and finally her lips.

She pressed her lips against his; she never wanted this feeling to stop. Whereas once she had been overcome with lust for Gil, this was a whole new experience; this was love in all its glory. She had never felt it with anyone, and she never wanted it to end.

She opened her mouth gently, letting this new emotion of love get mixed up with pure, unbridled passion. She explored Gil's mouth with her tongue, probing deeper and deeper into the depths of ecstasy.

He gently touched her face and neck, wanting to consume all of her at once but not hurting her at the same time. He reached under her hospital gown to where her newly applied bandages were wrapped across her chest. He lightly and deftly felt over them until he located Sara's hardening nipple. He lightly squeezed her breast and ran his thumb over her nipple. She arched her back in response to his touch. He broke their kiss and started to work his way down her neck, across her collar bone and towards her breasts.

He looked up at her "tell me if I am hurting you ok?" he said softly, his voice filled with genuine concern.

"You take the pain away Gil", she said leading his head towards her navel underneath her bandages. She wanted to feel his light kisses against her bare skin.

He kissed her stomach lightly and made his way down to her thighs. She moved towards him, every inch of her aching for him. He lightly kissed and brushed against her in the place where she yearned for him most. He quickly took off her underwear and began to lick and kiss between her legs. Sara moaned audibly. She had forgotten how good he was at oral sex. It had after all been a few years since she had had sex with him.

As his pace increased so did the waves of ecstasy that Sara was experiencing. She entirely forgot she was in a hospital bed, she could have been in any top hotel anywhere in the world, and it would have been just as wonderful. She wanted to feel the full length of Gil inside her, before she succumbed to the orgasmic waves that were washing over her.

"Gil, wait," she said her breath ragged.

"You ok Sara? Did I hurt you?" he asked.

"No, you didn't hurt me", she said. "I just want to feel all of you inside me, that's all", she said in a husky seductive tone.

"Well I am sure that can be arranged", he said lifting himself up the bed to face her. He kissed her passionately, and leaned over her. He balanced himself using all the strength in his upper arms, making sure he wouldn't lean directly on her chest as that would be too painful for her.

Sara opened his trousers with no difficulty and in minutes he was naked from the waist down. He slipped under the covers making sure to position himself in such a way that he wouldn't hurt her.

She guided him into her, and they began to have the most incredible sex either of them had ever experienced either with each other or anyone else. It was as if being in love added a whole new dimension to an already wonderful act. After what felt like an eternity of blissful happiness, they climaxed together.

Sara looked into Gil's eyes and kissed him lightly "I love you Gil Grissom", she whispered.

"And I love you Sara Sidle", Gil said lightly kissing her on the nose. After a few minutes he said "spend your life with me Sara, make me the happiest man alive."

"I thought I had lost you tonight, and it was the worst pain I have ever felt, I don't ever want to lose you again Gil. So yes, I will spend my life with you. I will try my best to make you happy every day, and I will never leave you" she said smiling her broad smile. She felt like a teenager again, it was a feeling that she wanted to experience every day for the rest of her life, and that was just what she was going to try to do, with the man of her dreams next to her.

The End.


End file.
